A (fall out of) love note

Listen to constructive feedback but ignore your inner critic. Fall of out of love with it immediately, because it doesn’t serve you. The world needs you to create, not to constantly edit what you make and dwell on your perceived shortcomings.

We need you. Not the you that you’re supposed to be, not the you that you think we want you to be, but the real you. The you that scares us a little because it’s so honest (and even a little weird).

Being the real you is important, because it makes it easier to align yourself with your values and easier to keep doing meaningful work. When the filters and masks are taken away, what’s left is unique and magnetic.

You can’t wait until later to do this. You can’t wait until you’ve “made it” to show the real you. You owe it to yourself to start being you right now.

We love dwelling on our shortcomings because it’s easier and less vulnerable than sharing our work with the world. It’s safer to make something and simply say, “This isn’t good enough” and hide it away. But, that deprives the world of our point of view and something that could make a real difference for someone else.

Fall out of love with your inner critic immediately. Kill its voice before it kills you.

The Sunday Dispatches newsletter, weekly articles since 2012—written by Paul Jarvis and read by 30k+ subscribers.